The present invention relates to a turkey trophy mounting kit for use by a hunter to prepare and mount for display the tail fan, beard and feet of a wild turkey gobbler.
One of the fastest growing areas of hunting activity is currently that of taking wild turkeys, which is regarded by even experienced hunters as being one of the more challenging of the wild game species to hunt. Those who hunt trophy turkey are after a mature male, commonly referred to among turkey hunters as the "Boss Gobbler", being characterized by a large body size (usually in the twenty to twenty-five pound category), a large tail fan, a long beard (being that modified feather protrusion of eight to ten inches or so in length which hangs from the center breast portion of the bird), and a respectable set of spurs (those two to three inch or so claw-like protrusions which project rearwardly from the backs of the legs just above the toes of the feet). As it is the antler size of a horned animal which is indicative of the power and verility of the male of any particular species, it is the spread of the tail fan, and the beard and spur lengths of the male turkey which are indicative of his wariness, power and verility, and by which he is established and regarded as a trophy among men and turkeys alike.
When a hunter is both skilled and fortunate enough to harvest a trophy class wild gobbler, and he wishes to preserve and display the same, his choices are to either have a professional taxidermist do a full body mount of the bird, or for the hunter to himself remove and cure the beard and tail and in some manner effect a display of the same. Since it is not at all uncommon for an accomplished turkey hunter to both hunt and harvest trophy gobblers in several states during a single season, preservation of such trophies in the form of full body mounts is not only very costly but also not practical since the space taken up by even a single trophy class full body mounted wild turkey gobbler is substantial. Thus, in many ways and respects, not the least of which are the cost and space factors, a wall hung plaque mounted display of the spread wild turkey gobbler tail fan, with beard and feet, is the more acceptable alternative.
The prior art teaches a gamebird tail mounting kit which is manufactured and sold by the The Holding Company of San Angelo, Tex., being shown and described on page 63 of the November/December 1989 issue of "the Turkey Hunter" (Vol. 6, No. 7), which provides a plaque means for the mounting and display of a fanned turkey tail and beard. Although there are kits for the mounting of antler trophies and the like, such as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,440 to Dotzman dated Aug. 7, 1984, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,626 to Badger dated Jan. 5, 1988, as well as a teaching for an animal foot rack and kit therefor as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,024 to Rinehart dated June 28, 1988, there are no other known methods or kits such as that herein taught for the preservation and mounting for display of a spread wild turkey gobbler tail fan with its beard and feet.